Six Years Away
by Zero'sOnlyDragon
Summary: It's been six years since Lucy saw them. Six year since Natsu had left Her and Happy. Seven since Her mom died. So what happens when a cooped up heiress escapes her cush life to go find her childhood friends, only to find that they think she's dead? And why is there a new girl in Natsu's class named Layla Heart strongly believe the heiress is alive? Nalu AU


In the Country of Fiore, there was an estate about an hour from the nearest town. The town's people there had heard about the now expanding, Heartfillia Estate. It was common knowledge that the owner, Jude Heartfillia, was a hardworking man that had isolated himself after the death of his wife, Layla. However, what they didn't know in the town of Magnolia, was that there was a terrace in the top left corner of the four story mansion, overlooking the land.

Vines crept along the same side of the house reaching the roof and going all the way to the ground, wrapping around the metal bars decorating the edges of the platform. The doors leading into the room on the other side of the terrace were glass window with wood panels to hold them. Looking like a giant window on the top side of the white and gold mansion. Inside those clear frames was an empty room, filled with bookshelves which were filled with hundreds of books. There was a pink bed, which was to be expected since it was night. Even the maids knew what time it was: Star Gazing hour.

On the brown, tiled roof, some feet away from the oak wood ladder laid a thirteen year old girl who had a blue cat on her stomach. The girl had long blonde hair and chocolate eyes with light gold flakes hidden inside. The girl wore a long white flowy nightgown as she stared at the stars, naming the constellations one by one as she saw them. Her Name?

Lucy Heartfillia

The entire day was filled with tutors teaching her all the things she needed to know if she was to become the Heartfillia heir and take over the family , it was not her decision to make. It was made for her, like every other decision that should have been made by her. It was the reason why hardly anyone knew she existed. The reason why she only felt comfortable underneath the starlight. Where her mother could watch over her with a clear view from the night Sky.

Life wasn't always like this for the young girl. Before Layla, her mother, passed, she used to watch the stars with Lucy and let her friends from the town over occasionally. The first was a boy with a form of stripping habit named Grey Filibuster. By form, its meant that he takes of his clothes off at the most random-est times and doesn't know until someone points it out to him. His eye color matched that of his hair, but they seemed droopy and showed coldness inside, almost like that of ice. The other was a scarlet-haired girl, who was very scary, yet Lucy could see pain and suffering behind her glasses that she wore, covering her color changing eyes. The third was a bluenette named Levy McGarden. She always had her nose buried in a book and knew about almost everything. She and Lucy often talked about books and the endings, about how they could have been better, or just to fan girl about certain characters.

The last one was a boy named Natsu Dragoneel. He had salmon colored hair and black squinty eyes. He always was fiery in some way, whether it be eating, talking, or just plain fighting. This was one of the reasons he and Grey didn't get along too well. He always wore a white, scaly scarf that his father had given him for his birthday that year. That was the year that everything changed. Her mother had fallen ill and wasn't showing any signs of recovery. It was horrible. Her father had begun to shut her out more and more as the sickness led on. Eventually, on July 7, x777, she died in her hospital bed. Lucy started to feel a negative force coming from her father the moment she was gone. Her friends started to come over less and less. First Levy, then Grey, and then Erza. Then came the day she watched Natsu jump out of her bedroom window and her father demanded he never some back. That was six years ago. Six lonely years and more to come.

Since then, only nice relationships Lucy had was with a book and Happy, the cat who currently rested on her stomach. She and Happy were cut off from the rest of the world. The only people who saw them were the maids and tutors. Barely anyone knew she was alive. She was alone in her big house, big library, and empty heart. Oh, how badly she wanted to sneak out and flee to the city that was a few hours away by foot. She was almost positive someone would take her in, but she could not for the fence had a padlock and voice key code, which would only answer to one of her maid or butler voices. She liked them all, as did her mom, but it didn't help her lost cause.

Lucy remembered all the fun times she had had before and a few months after her mom's death. When Erza would break up Natsu and Grey's fights, when Lucy would call out Grey when he would unknowingly start to take his shirt off, or when Natsu would grab her and run into the woods not far from the mansion. Lucy looked down at Happy, still thinking of the Salmon haired idiot, sparking up a memory from when she had found the blue, short hair with the Pinkette...

* * *

"I think we were supposed to take a left turn…" the pink haired boy said while looking around. The 10 year old blonde kicked him in the gut while screaming, "Natsu! You said we were going the right way!"

Natsu doubled over in pain holding his exposed stomach. His black open sweater vest only covering his back and sides. He kneeled down for support. Getting his white baggy, capris slightly dirty in the process. His white, scaly scarf, with snipped ends was barely touching the dry dirt below. His normal attire wasn't weird at all, or not to her at least. This outfit fit the eleven year old's personality fine. She sighed, wondering why she followed him into the woods in the first place. His constant need to take her almost everywhere he went around that drove her nuts.

They had stopped in the middle of a clearing and, it being mid fall, the ground was starting to frost at night and the air was getting colder. The mild wind ruffled her hair and her short-sleeve, pink dress that went down to her knees. It sent a cold shiver through her. The temperature was dropping and it was almost nightfall. There wasn't much to see except the color changing leaves. The bushes were losing their leaves, making them look like brambles and tumbleweeds. The flowers that were usually very bright and vibrant during the warmer seasons had all turned brown and ashy, making them look dead and lifeless. One touch could probably turn it to ash. The ground below them was mainly dirt and green grass patches.

Lucy didn't know where they were at all.

Her mind drifted to her parents and what they would say of her getting lost in the forest. What if she wasn't never allowed back into these woods? This was her and Natsu's place, where they went when they wanted to be alone. Could this one thing make her parents... No. she refused to think about it. She needed to stay positive. They would understand. They had to understand. At least, her mom would. Lucy's father could be easily persuaded by Layla's tone or judgment. The least she could hope for, no, plead for, was a scolding. They had been kids too, right?

Lucy turned her attention back to Natsu. He looked more physically hurt than worried or cold. His temperature lag and overly warm body temperature made it so that he couldn't feel burning heat of fire or the chill of ice. However, unlike the fire, if ice was ever placed in his hand, it would begin to melt in his hand due to his unnatural body heat. She also saw that Natsu was beginning to recover from her "Lucy kick" He got onto his two feet and stood in place for a second before turning to Lucy. Her angered expression turning into that of fear as she saw the devilish look in his black, piercing eyes. She was extremely ticklish, Natsu knew that, and one glance behind her told her she was a few inches away from a dried mud patch. Lucy put her hands up and started to back up

"Don't. You. Dare.' she told him, emphasizing each word. He looked at her, his signature smile turning into a Grinch Grin.

"Don't I dare do what?" Natsu asked, like he didn't know. Lucy saw him start running toward her. Dust flying from behind his sandals. Lucy turned and was about sprint away, but she was too slow compared to Natsu's speed. Lucy was tackled to the ground like she originally expected, and was immediately in a fit of giggles due to Natsu's fingers running up and down her stomach and sides lightly and quickly. A tickle attack and a dirt bomb, she swore she would get him back later.

Suddenly, Lucy was grabbed by his arms and was pinned down. Now that she really looked at it, Natsu was about 5 inches taller than her, but he never bragged about it. She felt his hot breath as he leaned his forehead against hers. Like always, he was warm, but not a hot warm. It was a comforting warm. Lucy looked up a bit and saw his frown.

"You're cold, Luce. Why didn' you say nothin'." he told her while getting up. Lucy was confused and still laid on the ground. She then felt hands wrap around her waist and under her knees. Lucy looked up to see Natsu looking down at her. His fanged smile glistening in the new moonlight as he held her bridal style. Lucy instantly felt warmer as she leaned her head against Natsu's shoulder, burying her face on one end of his warm, scaly scarf. He started to walk in a different direction from which they had come. After about five minutes, Lucy had forgotten all her worries about getting home. She stared up at the stars, still in Natsu's arms, knowing her mother would be staring down at her. She felt at ease. She knew she would get home as long as she still had hope and her dragon.

Lucy didn't know when she had started to think of Natsu as a dragon. It might have been his temper, his warm body, the way he loved fire, his scaly scarf, or the fact that he loved dragons in general, but she immediately saw him as a dragon. A red fire dragon, to be exact. Lucy started to begin to feel drowsy as time passed. She felt her heavy eyelids start to close.

"Nya!"

Lucy and Natsu let out a scream. Natsu held Lucy a bit closer while she threw her arms around his neck. Natsu whipped around, with Lucy still in him arms, to stare down at the thing that had scared them. She looked around but could not see anything.

"Nya." Lucy looked down to see a small blue cat. She and Natsu sighed in relief.

"It's just a cat." Natsu said while shaking his head with a slight grin.

The kitten tail had a white tail tip but other than then that he was just blue. Lucy let out a giggle and jumped out of Natsu's arms. She slowly bent down and held out a hand for the little kitten. It moved toward her and leaned its soft head into her palm. Lucy picked up the little kitten. She stroked its dirty, skinny sides showing its malnourished past. The poor thing.

"I think I'm going to keep you," Lucy said aloud and scratched behind the cat's ear, earning purr. She turned around to face Natsu only to come face to face with said boy. Lucy took a step back.

"Will your parents allow you to keep him?" Natsu asked. Lucy looked at him with an eyebrow raised. He had obviously saw the determination in Lucy's chocolate brown eyes with light gold specks because he shoved his hands in his pockets and sighed. When Lucy made up her mind, there was no arguing. She held onto the cat like it was dying.

"I don't care what they say. I'll find a way and I'm sure mom won't mind. Dad won't mind if mom doesn't, so I think it'll be OK." she said while petting the kitten. She looked down at the little thing.

"I should probably give you a name… Oh!' Lucy held up the cat and looked at it. "I'll name you Plue!" Lucy heard Natsu snicker. She looked up at him annoyed.

"Like you have a better name?"

"What about Happy?" he asked.

"But Happy is an emotion, not a name."Lucy looked back at the cat. She had to admit, it did fit and had a nice ring to it. A peculiar name for and odd cat, but it worked better than Plue. Natsu huffed.

"Well I saw it first, so I get to name it. And what's wrong with Happy as a name?"Happy mewed as if in agreement. Lucy sighed in a defeated tone.

"Happy it is then." she said while placing the cat on her shoulders. Natsu rolled his eyes. Lucy shivered as a breeze waft through the air, hitting her full force. Natsu must have noticed with what he said after the breeze past.

"We should keep going, if there is a cat, we are probably close to the main road." he told her. Lucy nodded in agreement. Together the two of them pulse one kept walking till the found their destination.

* * *

Lucy smiled as she remembered her parents' reactions when they got home. Layla understood and let her off with only no reading for a week. For most, that may not have been a punishment, but to "Lucky" Lucy Heartfillia, it was torture. She remembered the massive amount of joy she felt when the punishment was lifted. Yet barely a year later, all of that joy was stripped away from her life. Lucy felt Happy stir and get of her belly. The cat began to softly nudge her side, telling her it was starting to get cold and time to go inside. Lucy sat up and stroked the cat fondly. She sighed as she took one last look up, wishing she knew where everyone was. Happy looked at her and, as if it understood what she was feeling, Happy sat on her lap, giving her comfort.

"I know, I miss them too happy." she told the cat while picking him up. She reached the edge of the roof and placed the cat on her shoulder. Lucy crouched down and began to climb down the nice wooden ladder. It was only wish her father granted. She had asked other things like going to school or asking to stay up the day before a party. Lucy was lucky to have kept Happy. It seemed as though everything fun in life was just beyond the light brown, 10 foot wall. Lucy reached the end of the ladder. She was about to open the balcony door that followed into the room when she felt the wind turn her around and she saw it.

The lights of the Magnolia festival.

Once a year, on this date exactly, the town held a huge parade. The colors were so bright, colorful, and vibrant as they clashed against the darkened sky. Lucy's feet moved toward the balcony edge. She could faintly make out ant-like parade floats that drove by, their shapes ranging from that of an ice castle to that of a person breathing fire. Lucy snapped out of her trance like state as her hands hit the cold iron bars. She looked just below the town to see the wall. She looked even lower to see a bush.

A rose bush that covered a good amount of land right beside the wall and would soon hold a secret behind it.

Lucy hadn't started to dig and didn't intend to for at least two more years. She had told herself she would go when she truly knew what she could get by on her own. Lucy looked at Happy's gaze and saw he was staring in the same direction. The day was coming a lot slower than the two thought. Lucy pet the cat and went back to looking at the bright lights of the parade. She looked slightly above just in time to see a shooting star. At that moment, Lucy was determined. More determined than she had been in her entire life. Determined to flee and never come back. To live the fairy tales in books she loved so much.

"I'll get us out of here, Happy," She told the blue cat on her shoulder while going back the glass door.

"And when I do,"

Lucy opened the door and stepped inside.

"We'll find them again, and never come back."

She closed the doors with a click, sealing her verbal vow to the cat.

* * *

 **A/N: OK, i do not own fairytail, nor any of its characters, just the plot.**

 **No, i didn't take time away from LASP to write this, I actually wrote this years ago. Im soo sorry about the delay in LASP, but this is my fifth time re writing the chapter. I am deciding to go through with this story, now that i am better at writing. I have the first two chapters from when i started it, but you'll eventually see the writing get better after chapter two, I promise. I thought it would be a cool idea to do a kid reunion AU. I can't spoil what i want to do or where i want to go with this, but i will fix as i go along. Critisism and Comments about any mistakes are appreciated so long as its constructive critisism. This will be updated at random.**

 **So Stay Tuned and Thanks For Reading!**

 **~Pheonix**


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